Omaha daily bee., 1887-12-05
FORECAST OF CONGRESS-.
An outline of Preliminary Business
For the Two Houses.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.-The Fifteth con
grcss will be called to order at II o'clock to-
morrow. In the senate it has been customary
Immediately after the opening prayer for the
presiding officer to lay before the senate the
credentials of such members-elect as were
not already on file, otter the reading of which
the oath has been administered to all sena-
tors-clect in the alphabetical order of their
names, except such as have been objected to.
This ceremony over, the roll has been called
and quorum being present, the organiza-
ton of the body has been considered com
plctc. 1t is said to bo probable
that objection will be made to-
morrow by the republicans to the admission
of Senator Turpie, of Indiana, and Faulkner,
of West Virginia, some leading republicans
holding that there are good prima-facic
grounds for an investigation of their titles,
such as exist against no other senator's elect.
The democrats, on the other hand hold that
the only flaws in the titles of the two senator's
named are merely technical and propose, in
case objection is made, to make a similar OBJ
lection to to the admission of certain repub-
licans in whose credentials technical
lapses have been found. This is
likely to prcciptatc a conflict over
the organization of the body which may
delay all other matters indefinitely. Should
objections not be made or should compro-
mise or understanding be received, the SEN
ate will tomorrow appoint the customary
committees to give notice to the house of
representatives, and president of the organ
nation of the senate and its readiness to pro
coed to business. If both houses complete
their organization tomorrow the presidents
message will be laid before them on Tuesday.
The remainder Of the week in the senate is
likely % witness nothing in The way of gen
eral legislation except the Introduction Qi pills.
Caucuses are likely to take place TO fill the
vacancies in the several committees and it is
probable that the great number of vacancies
Will give rise to II general REIMBURSEMENT OF the
entire committee list. a good deal of time
is likely to be spent by the senate during the
early weeks of the session in secret session
considering recess appointments.
The house will be called to order at noon
by Mr.. Clark, clerk of the preceding house,
and after a quorum of members have re-
sponded to their names on the call of the roll
the work of organization Will be proceeded
with 1t has been customary for some years
past to devote one day of the first week of the
session to introduction of bills for reference
appropriate committees when appointed.
This practice has led to much confusion and
many of the most experienced congressman
are of the opinion that it should be abolished,
and probably an effort will be made to pre-
| vent the introduction of bills until Speaker
Carlisle shall have announced his committee
appointments. Until these important ad-
| juncts are supplied no real legislative bus-
| ness can he accomplished by the house
| Owing to the close division of the new house
on party lines and the large number of new
| and untricd members, whose personal
| preferences in assignments it is customary to
| consider to the largest extent compatible
| with party policy, it seems probable
| that the work of selecting committees
viii occupy Speaker Carlisle's time nearly or
| quite up to Christmas. The customary mo-
| tion to adopt the rules of the proceeding
| house will undoubtedly give rise to some de-
| bate and effort will be made to amend
| them in some important particulars. Prcvi-
| Gus to the last change there was a dead letter
| rule in the manual requiring the committee
| on appropriations to report all appropriation
| bills within thirty days afterits appointment,
| and this rule it is proposed to re-enact and
| enforce with reference to all committees hav-
| ing general appropriation bills within
| their jurisdiction. 1t will be amended,
| however, so as to extend to sixty days the
| time within which such bills must be reported
| during a long session. while leaving thirty
| days as the maximum for short session. A
| strong effort will be made to have u rule
| adopted to prohibit the introduction of pri-
| Vate bills III open house, aud require that all
| these measures shall reach the appropriate
| committees through the medium of the pcti-
tion box. This would effect saving of time
to the house and expense to the gov
| ernment. At present 1900 copies
| are printed of every bill introduced, and as q
| ferred to committees remain there buried
the printing involves an apparently needless
| expenditure Of money. Should the proposed
rule be adopted, no private bill will be
| printed until it is acted on by a committee
| and reported to the house for consideration